The captivating home of your fetus is riveting when you genuinely take the time to learn each discovery. The microscopic to the most significant details will blow your mind. The more you understand about this symbiotic environment, the easier it is for you to nourish yourself a little bit more through the pregnancy.
From the time you saw the pregnancy test appear favorable, you’ve likely done a lot of reading about pregnancy, labor, birth, and babies. Maybe you’ve even watched a bunch of videos or taken a class to become more comfortable with the process or perhaps talked to a variety of seasoned moms. Whatever route you are using to learn about motherhood, it probably does not include enough information about the complex environment your protégé is growing in. Parents are typically focusing on HOW the baby will leave its warm cozy habitat and end up on your breast. After all, the growth of your offspring is mind-boggling enough. Still, thoughts of an 8-pound human exiting your body in 40 weeks can be downright mystifying.
Here’s a sneak peek at some of the finer points of the well-designed symbiotic relationship between mother and fetus. From placenta to umbilical cord and everything in between:
FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT THE PLACENTA:
- It is derived from both mother and father cells.
- It is the only disposable organ.
- This will act as a multifunctional organ.
- The blood of mom and baby pass through the placenta but don’t commingle.
- It operates as lungs for the baby.
- Long after birth, the placenta can provide immunities to the baby from the mother.
- With multiple identical fetuses, there may or may not be many placentas.
- If multiples share a placenta, they will have separate umbilical cords.
- Most mammals consume their placenta after birth.
- All placentas are different shapes and sizes across all mammals, including from one baby to the next in the same family.
- “Lotus birth” is when a mother keeps her newborn baby attached to the placenta until the umbilical cord falls off on its own.
- In many cultures around the world, the placenta can have a spiritual significance.
- Fetal cells can transfer to the mother during pregnancy via the placenta and usually seek out an injured or diseased area to heal.
- Placenta previa is when the placenta is blocking the mothers’ cervix and can cause difficulties.
- Obese women are at higher risk for placenta related complications.
- The placenta is the only organ that can develop without the immune system attacking it.
- Scientists study the placenta to understand cancer better.
THE UMBILICAL CORD:
- All cord lengths vary with an average of 45-60 cm at 28 weeks when it reaches its full range.
- Many cultures celebrate the spiritual significance of the cord in a variety of ways.
- The fetus receives oxygen and vital nutrients through the cord.
- There are two arteries and one vein in the cord encased in a viscous substance called WHARTON’S JELLY or WJ.
- WJ is in every umbilical cord.
- This material keeps blood vessels from being constricted by loops, knots, twists, and bends. At the same time, the baby is exploring his environment.
- After birth, as the temperature falls, the Jelly contracts the veins in the cord, which provides its physiologic clamp! How cool is that?
- This natural cord clamping will usually happen within 5 minutes of delivery.
- Wharton’s Jelly is named after an English physician & anatomist, Thomas Wharton. It was around 1656 when he made this fantastic discovery.
- The cells discovered in Wharton’s Jelly have several multipotent stem cell genes and can heal various parts of a body.
AMNIOTIC SAC:
- It is fully formed within three weeks of conception.
- Grown from the placenta.
- It is comprised of 2 robust membranes filled with fluid inside the mother’s womb.
- The fluid inside the sac comes from the maternal plasma and passes through fetal membranes.
- It can be called the “bag of waters” or “membranes.”
- Is filled with bright, pale, strawberry covered fluid where the embryo/fetus floats and swims until birth.
- This sterile fluid cushions the baby from injury and maintains a constant temperature.
- This fluid serves to facilitate the exchange of vital nutrients and water between mom and baby.
- The fetus will swallow the amniotic fluid and excrete tiny amounts of urine back into the liquid.
- The amount of fluid will increase until 38 weeks and then decrease slightly until the baby’s birth. Too little or too much fluid can be an indicator of problems for mom and baby.
Understanding all the details of the fascinating world that the baby is developing in can be awe-inspiring. Nature surely knew how to secure that we would walk the earth for a long time by not leaving anything to chance. Every element from the sperm entering the egg down to the first breath your baby takes has a purpose. Your body is designed to bring life into the universe while sustaining life after delivery. Embrace it-by getting to know all the subtleties; you can ensure less complexity and misgivings. Especially the first time around.
“To be pregnant is to be vitally alive, thoroughly woman and distressingly inhabited. Soul and spirit are stretched- along with body-making pregnancy, a time of transition, growth, and profound beginnings.” ~Anne Christian Buchanan
Happy Parenting!
